Top Tips for a stress-free Office Move or Refurbishment

TOP Tips to a stress free office relocation or refurbishment blog heading

Your company has decided on an office relocation/refurbishment and the responsibility of managing your office move has landed on you! :/ First things first…Don’t Panic!

If you’ve done this before, you’ve probably got a few ‘learned lessons’ in your pocket. If you haven’t, managing an office move with the right planning and with the right team on board will certainly help your office move project run as smoothly as possible, ensuring the business continues to do what it does best with minimal distraction.

So… sit back and relax whilst you read through our TOP TIPS for a stress-free office relocation/refurbishment or re-organisation.

TOP TIP 1. Why are you moving/refurbishing?

This is a very good place to start, Are you?

  • Expanding and need more space?
  • Changing Location?
  • Downsizing?

Before settling on a new office space, a worthwhile exercise is to audit your existing workspace and spend some time understanding the requirements of your business. Work out how much space you actually use and how much you foresee needing in the future. An existing space audit can sometimes highlight that an office refurbishment or furniture re-organisation could achieve the same results, without the need to relocate the business.

 

TOP TIP 2. Plan – ‘Failing to prepare is preparing to fail’

Sometimes the simplest of things can make a big impact.

failing to plan is planning to fail
Designed by Yanalya / Freepik

Change is inevitable

A relocation project can be one of the most expensive events in the life of a business. It’s certainly beneficial that you get the right look, feel and fit for your business so that the changes you make now will still work for your business and team further down the line.

More heads are better than one.

Change can be stressful and unsettling for staff; Help them to feel relaxed and excited about the process by communicating your plans so easing the feeling of uncertainty.  The more the team is on board – the better the ideas and the better the outcome. No point signing off on an office plan with 3 meeting rooms, to find out later, that actually, your heads of departments would have been happy sharing one and you could have made space for the pool table after all?!

Design for your brand

Space planning and design is probably the most exciting part of any office move – creating an inviting and productive working environment for your team. But there’s much more to an office move than just redesigning your workplace with bean bags, perhaps a slide… maybe a bar with beer on tap, all very acceptable additions to anyone’s office, but ONLY if it works for you. Us designers love a bit of flair and out-of-the-box, so it’s important that you make a spaceplan / design work for you – rather than the other way round, the first design is very rarely the last.

Check Out Our TOP TIPS to a Stress Free Fit-Out

workplace fit-out/relocation or reorganisation

Wherever you are in your workplace fit-out/relocation or reorganisation process, we understand it can be a sizable task to manage and keep on a budget.

TOP TIP 3. Budget

How Much is this all going to Cost?

How long is a piece of string? Putting a price on an office refurbishment can depend on a huge variety of variables because every business and building come with its own challenges and requirements, however, If you still just want a quick idea, in 2016 Cushman & Wakefield put together a London Occupier fit-out cost guide report. In this report fit-out costs for companies in London were on average £48 per sq ft for a low spend fit-out, reaching to £129 per sq ft on average for a high spend fit-out. Again depending on your requirements, these can vary either way.

budget for your office refurbishment

What does my fit-out include?

Below is a list of typical items you’ll find included in your office fit-out package.

  • Partitioning to create rooms and areas (solid & glass)
  • Lighting changes and switches
  • Small power distribution
  • Data and Network Infrastructure
  • Fire Alarm changes
  • Tea point / Breakout area
  • Decoration of new construction elements
  • The nitty-gritty elements all covered – Building regulations, application, inspection and approval
  • Health & Safety requirements
  • Design
  • Project Management

A few additional costs to consider on top of your office refit/refurbishment may include:

  • Furniture – the cost of new furniture, delivery, and installation
  • Disposal costs (of old furniture, computers, rubbish)
  • Marketing costs – new stationery, announcements, invitations, website update of new address, plus mail redirection
  • Branding of the new office – signage/graphics
  • Occupancy costs (such as rent, service charges, taxes, energy, maintenance, etc.)
  • Transaction fees (for property agents, lawyers)
  • Insurance
  • Planning permission fees
  • Environmental assessments
  • Extra security (during the move)
  • Telecoms
  • Contingency (an allowance for unseen expenditure)
  • Dilapidation costs for your old space (many leases require you to put your old space back to its original condition)
  • Air conditioning, heating and ventilation
  • Energy performance
  • Temporary storage during the move
  • Removals
  • Utility costs

TOP TIP 4. Choosing a good team.

Whether that’s internal staff to work with or finding the right-fit Design & Build specialist – finding the right people to work with can make a big difference to a project and make communicating a pleasure, not a burden. So it is important to do a little shopping around. The majority of Design & Build companies you meet will no doubt all be able to give you a similar outcome, it’s just about finding the right company that will work closely with you to achieve the right solution in the right way.

Novex pride themselves on excellence in communications and delivering as promised. With a record turnover of repeat business from our clients, so we must be doing something right.

If you’ve yet to have the pleasure of meeting our team, get in touch for no obligation consultation and some indicative plans on how your current space or new space could work for you.

To find out more about how Novex can assist you with your workplace needs, get in touch via our online form or call us on 0845 458 8008 and we will be more than happy to help.

Case Studies

  • warehouse fit-out
  • office interior design of a reception counter with with fabric snowflake screen

Avoid Common Fit-Out Problems with this Handy Office Refurbishment Guide

stress free guide to workplace design

Download now for a stress-free office refurbishment plus tips on how to design your office for success!

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